Oh dear, the world’s about to end

I was rather alarmed to read in the daily press briefing this morning that ‘a large Christian grouping’ (unspecified) believes that the world is going to end on Saturday 21 May. The bad news is reported in the Daily Mail, but I can’t find a link to it.

Announcing the end of the world is a bit risky, but it still comes over as bad news. Saturday 21 May is the day I am due to be ‘put in’ at Bradford Cathedral to begin my public ministry in the Diocese of Bradford.

I’m just not sure now if we should proceed with all the preparations, if we are about to expire along with the rest of the planet. As I can’t find a link to the report (and I refuse to buy the Daily Mail), I can’t get more precise details. My ‘enthronement’ (which means being put into my ‘cathedra’ – the teaching seat of the bishop) starts at 2.30pm. If the world isn’t going to end until, say, 7pm, that might put a different complexion on the matter. But, if it is due to happen at, say, 10am, we might as well save the money and time.

Hang on…

Oh! Apparently, this ‘large Christian grouping’ also says that if it doesn’t happen on 21 May, it will take place on 21 December 2012. That’s the trouble with dodgy prophets: never precise, never consistent.

19 Responses to “Oh dear, the world’s about to end”

Nick,
I do think that you need to think about it – it would be an awful waste if the 2nd coming came just as you were ending your service. Its Harold Camping and the Family Radio lot in the US who are behind it all. I put the maths of his “calculation” on my blog – http://willcookson.wordpress.com/2011/03/28/will-jesus-return-on-may-21st-at-about-6pm/. He is bizarre – of course some people have given up their jobs as a result – it really is quite tragic.

Sometimes I look at the piles of papers on my desk and reflect that it would be a welcome relief if the world did actually end, as it would mean that all the things I hadn’t done would no longer matter. Then I worry about whether there will be stuff to do in heaven as well. Then I remember that God is very well aware how rubbish I am at admin, and would probably find me something else to do instead. Then, finally, I stop thinking about the end of the world and actually contemplate the possibility of doing some of my paperwork…
Every blessing for 21st May; lots of us are thinking of you and praying for you.

Would not give money to the Daily Mail, but this is the online article. It is all so confusing!! I heard a sermon that a reveival is going to start in the UK on September 1st recently – revival or doomsday, which is it to be??

Oh no, hope that the Large Christian Group are wrong. I am part of the team of Census Interviewers who are tasked to survey EVERY property in certain post codes. People are not thrilled to have to ‘redo’ their Census, as they see it, how much more annoyed with us are they going to be if they ‘know’ that the world is about to end!

isn’t it amazing that the flood for 40 daysand nights should have been calculated as 40000 years? nicely glossed over as it would mean that Noah is now A, still alive B would now be 7000 years old and unfortunately for him still has another 33000 years to live and is still stuck in a flood!? am I worried?…. not at all I have Faith in My Lord and Trust in Him. whenever the end occurs, I will be applying for a position as lay clerk counter-tenor in the heavenly choir if they will have me.